On a fairly empty Concord bound train this afternoon, I thought I would have the luxury of getting two seats to myself. As we approached Embarcadero from Civic Center, the train still had many empty seats, and I thought I would be free to stretch my tired arms and sit comfortably across 2 seats. But, a larger, very hairy and totally sweating older man walked in, and decided to take the seat next to me even though the train was about 40% empty.
Why oh why did he have to choose this seat?? I smelled him immediately: his sweat, his hair, his unwashed clothes (smelled like a dirty closet) and his breath! I was miserable and wanted to get up to change a seat. But I realized that it would really be a huge production for him to have to stand up, grab his things and move aside for me, and if he didn't do that and instead just expected me to walk over him, it would be extremely unpleasant for my body to have to touch his. So, I decided to just suck it up for 25 minutes.
It wasn't easy. He coughed a lot, his sweaty left arms touched my dry and clean right arm several times, and worst of all, I caught him violently scratching his big wart on his face.
Finally, I was at my station. And I was right, it did take him a long long time to allow me to exit my seat. I almost missed the door.
Glad the weekend is here!
2 comments:
It's like parking your car far away in a parking lot because you don't want anyone to park next to you only to find someone has parked next to you when you return to your car when there are a gazillion spaces far closer to a location entrance. Sorry for the run on sentence.
Think of all the misery you could've spared yourself if you'd only asked to get up at the beginning.
The more things like this happen to me, the more I speak up. It's the only way to get what you want or prevent something you don't.
Sounds like a pretty disgusting ride.. if there's a next time, try to stop the person as they're approaching and/or eyeballing that seat. Let them know you're getting off soon and find another spot..just a suggestion.
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